Origin Story

I was born in Limerick, Ireland in 1968. I moved to the UK in 1988 and lived in London for many years before moving to the Oxfordshire/Northamptonshire borders.

Early Career

Born into a family music business, I had a passion for cars and motorbikes. A voracious reader, I dreamed of becoming a motoring journalist – not that such a job existed in Ireland at the time. Having completed my A-levels and spent a summer in London, I began a mechanical apprenticeship with a local Renault dealer. After three years, I decided that garage work was not to be my future and returned to my ambition to write about cars.

In February 1988, I caught a bus back to London. I worked my way around the fringes of the motor trade and related industries, ending up as General Manager of the car parks in central Heathrow Airport: a substantial appointment for a young man! Having several thousand parking spaces at my disposal led to a large collection of what we would now call classic cars.

I left Heathrow in 1996, rehomed my collection and took my first ‘official’ car sales position with an AA-backed car supermarket in West London, also training with Royal Bank of Scotland on Finance and Insurance. The next three years took me through dealership sales and purchasing, then into fleet buying with Barclays Bank and a brief spell with Ernst and Young.

Eventually, the dream to write about cars could no longer be ignored and I found my first job as a Valuations Editor in 2000, with the UK motor trade valuations “bible”, Glass’s Guide.

Glass’s Guide: Valuations Editor

I spent ten years with Glass’s Guide, starting as an Assistant Valuations Editor on the Motorcycle Guide, with an equivalent position on Glass’s Guide to Commercial Vehicle Values and the Motorhome and Caravan Valuation Guides. After a short apprenticeship under the Chief Editor for these important publications, I was given my own valuation products and became Editor of the Guide to Older Car and Modern Classic Values.

At the same time, I became Editor of Glass’s Consumer Values: an online product that allowed owners to value their cars and motorcycles as part exchanges in three conditions using traditionally highly secret Glass’s raw data. The product was used on a number of car manufacturer websites and powered the successful ‘We Buy Any Car’ website at start-up.

In a decade with Glass’s, I developed a busy sideline as a freelance motoring journalist, writing used car articles and buying guides for car magazines including Autocar and Top Gear, also becoming a prolific classic Porsche writer, eventually publishing my book, “The Cult of Porsche”.

In 2004, I established an independent valuations consultancy for classic and collector cars for insurance, trading and investment purposes.  In 2006, I began providing freelance marketing support to a number of unique motor trade businesses. My work in both arenas soon gained an excellent reputation.

My freelance work eventually grew too big for what little free time I had available, so, in May 2010, I left Glass’s Guide and went full-time as a freelance valuations and marketing consultant. Mighty Motor Media was incorporated in the UK in 2012.